Sad soil

Sad soil

Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:16 pm

my hydrangea get smaller every year but does survive the winter. I enriched the sandy soil and much. I am not worried about the blue/pink colour until it blooms. does anyone out ther have any further suggestions for overwintering/ Thanks

mississauga is in Canada, right? How cold does it get in winter? Do you know what variety of hydrangea you have? Some varieties are more cold hardy than others. Panicle hydrangea is cold hardy down to US zone 4, which I think should include you. Lacecap hydrangeas need winter protection even in zone 6.

I agree that iot would be nice to know what variety you have and its name. It sounds like your soil either lacks minerals, moisture or the proper acidity. A soil test should be done; I especially recommend it when the soil is sandy. Sandy soils tend to be defficient in minerals and need a lot of compost or fertilizers plus 50% more water than normal (the water drains too well). In rare cases, the acidity may be too acid so check that as well to make sure that all is well. Mositure problems can be noted during the growing season by seeing leaves that turn brown from the edges inwards. If you insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4 inches and the soil feels dry or almost dry, give the shrub 1 gallon of water.

A colored hydrangea as you described could be a mophead that may be planted out of zone. If you live in Toronto, that would be Z6 or Z5. Most mophead have a good time in Zones 7 and higher but some begin to have problems in Z6 winter and probably all have difficulty surviving Zone 5. A typical shrub creates flower buds in July-August and then winter gets so cold that the flower buds die or the stems & buds all dry/freeze out. Plants with these temperature issues tend to "return" in Spring from the base (meaning the stems left from Fall will not leaf out and have to be pruned off).

Again, I am concerned that the plant is getting smaller so if this is cnot aused by an out of zone planting issue, test the soil & monitor the shrub some more as this then suggests moisture issues or mineral defficiency.

Firstly improve the soil, cover with a couple of inches of stable/farmyard manure when the plant becomes dormant and again when its started to bud again (ideally dig the first load in beofre putting down more). I'm not sure how easy it will be to get manure but it will add nutrients to the soil and help improve the structure of the soil.

Manure is a good improver as it binds sandy soil together which will hold in water and nutrient as sandy soils can hold none.

If you feed the plant with a liquid feed on sandy soil the sand will hold very little nutrients, a liquid feed would be a waste. granular feed isn't much better as it still needs to break down into liquid before the plant can take it up but as i've said sandy soils don't hold water.

Suggestions

Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:30 pm

Thanks everybody for the great suggestions about my Hydrangia... up late...bad spelling! I never though about the ph required for growing as well as how quickly an fertilizer would leave the sandy soil. As the cottage is in farm country, gettting manure or organic materials like that is no problem. I think I will add some peatmosee around the plant roots for now and mulch well before tackleing the other parts in the Spring!

Re: Suggestions

Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:53 pm

LindaD wrote:I think I will add some peatmosee around the plant roots for now and mulch well before tackleing the other parts in the Spring!

I would recommend against adding peat moss to any plant, whether it's in trouble or not. My experience, and that of many other gardeners, is that peat moss can be difficult to get wet, and can cause roots of plants not to get wet, either. (See a current discussion about sad sage plants here.)

There are other reasons not to use peat, but I'll confine myself to enlightened self-interest this time: why make it more difficult for your plants to get the water they need?